Camping
by cautiousAlbatross
Summary: The beta kids meet for the first time, and romance blossoms.
1. Beginning

Your name is John Egbert and you are a hopeless, lovesick fool, and you don't even know it.

It's summer, you're sixteen, and you and your friends have met up in New York for a week of unsupervised camping in the woods – admittedly, in the woods near your friend Rose's house, within easy reach of her mother, and with regular phone calls home. It's the first time any of you have met in real life, and you are a little nervous, to say the least. As you stand in the airport waiting for the others to arrive, you begin to wonder whether this was such a good idea. You start to wish you'd let your dad come with you. Just as you're thinking about buying a ticket home, you spot a tall blonde sporting ironic sunglasses. You recognise those sunglasses...

"Dave!" you shout, waving excitedly, "Hey, Dave!"

If you had a tail, it'd be wagging furiously. The blonde turns to face you, nods coolly, and weaves his way through the crowd to where you're standing. Close up, you find out he's nearly a head taller than you.

"Hey," he says, holding one hand out for a fist bump, which you ignore completely, going in for a hug.

You take him by surprise, but after a moment of awkward silence, he hugs you back.

"You're taller than I thought you'd be," you say, your voice slightly muffled by his shoulder.

"Hey, I'm a perfectly normal height," he says, pushing you back so he can look at you, "You're just a shorty."

"Shut up, I'm five foot six. That's not short."

"Well, I'm five eleven. That's not tall. And five six is totally short."

You punch him playfully and you both laugh.

By the time Jade arrives, twenty minutes later, you're sitting on the floor playing hangman on your arm with a biro Dave found in his pocket. You're wondering how he managed to win all twelve rounds, and he doesn't have the heart to tell you you just really suck at hangman. Jade laughs, and guesses Dave's word correctly in one try. You say she must be a witch. She laughs again, and says it was easy.

You have to wait another twenty minutes for Rose and her mom to turn up and drive you to their house. Once there, Rose leads you into the woods, carrying everything with you in giant rucksacks. It takes an hour for you to reach the clearing you're camping in, and you spend the whole time complaining about how heavy your bag is. When you finally arrive, you ask where the toilet is, and Rose tells you there isn't one. You begin to get upset, and consider asking if you can just stay at her house, when she tells you there's a motorway service station two minutes walk away, complete with toilets and a McDonald's.

You set up two tents, one for Rose and Jade and one for you and Dave, and have McDonald's for dinner. You brush your teeth in the service station toilets, getting weird looks from the other patrons, and lie in your tent for over an hour, talking and laughing with Dave. By the time you fall asleep, you think you're really going to enjoy this trip.


	2. Accusation

The next morning, you wake up before Dave. His shades are off for the night, and you find yourself staring at his eyelids, wondering what colour his eyes are. You wonder why he makes such a big deal of hiding them, anyway.

After about five minutes, you get bored of waiting for him to wake up, and shake him awake. He cracks his eyes open slightly, squints at you, and squeezes them shut before you can get a good look at them. He gropes for his shades, and puts them firmly on his face, keeping his eyes shut until they are in place.

"What time is it?" he asks, sitting up and rubbing his eyes, lifting the sunglasses up slightly.

"I don't know," you say, shrugging, "I didn't bring a watch."

You're certain that, even though you can't see them, he rolls his eyes as he pulls out his iPhone and informs you that it's half past seven in the morning. You ask if he thinks Jade and Rose will be awake yet, and he says probably not. Well, he tries to, but is interrupted by Jade bursting into the tent and shouting at them to wake up.

"We're awake, we're awake!" you say, holding your hands up in a gesture of surrender.

"Good!" she says, grinning excitedly, "Get dressed, then, breakfast will be ready in five minutes!"

"What is it, more McDonald's?" asks Dave, retreating into his sleeping bag.

"No, silly!" Jade says, laughing, "We brought a camping stove! And sausages and bacon and tomatoes and eggs and bread and everything!"

"That sounds great," you say, herding her out of the tent, "Can you let us get dressed now, then?"

"Of course! See you soon!"

You turn back to Dave, rolling your eyes, and reach for your bag. Dave remains firmly in his sleeping bag. You pull out a change of clothes, then give Dave a sheepishly pointed look, which he ignores.

"Um, Dave," you say, "Could you, uh, look away? I'm going to change now."

He grunts and rolls over so he's facing the wall of the tent. You change quickly and tell him he should probably get dressed, too. He ignores you, and you go outside, where you can smell something delicious cooking.

"Hey, John!" Jade says, waving at you and nearly knocking the frying pan off of the stove, "Where's Dave?"

"Trying to sleep, I think," you say, sitting down next to her and trying to pinch a sausage from the pan, unsuccessfully, "He doesn't want to get up."

"Well, we'll see about that," she says, getting up and marching over to your tent.

You smile slightly to yourself, glad you aren't in Dave's position, and Rose comes over to take Jade's place at the stove.

"Did you sleep well?" she asks, flipping the bacon.

"Yes," you say, trying to take a piece of bacon and getting your fingers slapped for your trouble, "This is exciting, isn't it?"

"I suppose," she says, shrugging and smiling knowingly, then serving up a bit of everything and handing it to you, "There's some orange juice and cups in that bag. Could you get a glass for everyone? _Before_ you eat your breakfast?"

"Sure," you say, putting the plate down reluctantly and grabbing the bag, "So what are we doing today?"

"I don't know. We'll discuss it when Dave gets up. _If_ he ever gets up."

You laugh, and nearly spill the juice.

"Speaking of Dave," she says, giving you a look laden with meanings, none of which you think you understand.

You look up, waiting for her to go on.

"What about him?" you ask eventually, when it becomes apparent she's waiting for you to say something.

She pauses for a moment, looking thoughtful.

"You fancy him, don't you?" she says, sounding slightly accusatory.

"What? No! Of course not! Don't be stupid, I don't fancy _Dave_. We're just _friends_."

"You sound flustered," she points out, grinning smugly.

"That's a groundless accusation," you huff, taking your plate and cup and marching off, "I'm not talking to you any more."

Feeling slightly childish, but not wanting to go back and talk to Rose again, you retreat into the woods and sit down against a tree, alone. You eat your breakfast in silence, trying not to dwell on Rose's words. You ignore the little voice inside you which is saying she might just be right.


	3. Restless

You finish your breakfast and sit under the tree, thinking. You're certainly not sulking. You're just sitting along with your thoughts. About how wrong Rose definitely is. How stupidly annoyingly definitely wrong and not in a million years close to being right she is. Yeah.

Fifteen minutes later, you're still sitting there, waiting for someone to come and find you. You thought that maybe soon Rose would want to come and gloat, or Jade would get worried, or Dave... Anyway, you thought _someone_ would come looking for you. It's not as if you went very far. If you try hard, you can just about hear their voices, talking and laughing. Enjoying themselves without you.

After twenty minutes, you start to think you're being a bit foolish. Why did you even come out here in the first place? You ignore the little voice in your head telling you you know exactly why, and stand up. Sheepishly, you return to camp, and put your plate and cup down next to the stove. They all stop talking and stare at you for a moment, and you shrug, sitting down next to them. You don't offer an explanation, and they don't ask for one, but Rose gives you a secretive smile. You take that to mean she didn't tell anyone. You hope she didn't, anyway.

The others soon finish their breakfast, and Jade ropes you into helping with the washing up. You nod and smile along to her babbling, but find you can't concentrate on anything she's saying.

"John," Jade says, pausing with a soapy pan in her hand, "John!"

"Hmm?" you say, looking up, and realising you weren't paying attention to anything she'd just said, "Oh, sorry. I was just... thinking..."

You feel your ears heat up, and hope your blush isn't too noticeable, as you realise you were thinking about Dave. What's wrong with you? This is ridiculous. Now Rose is putting these stupid ideas into your head.

"You completely spaced out!" she says, a slightly relieved smile appearing on her face, "You've been drying that plate for ages!"

"Oops," you say, putting it down, "I'm just not with it at the moment."

"Go and do something else," she says, gently taking the tea towel off of you, "I'll finish this."

You nod vaguely, and wander off, wondering what else there is for you to do.

Soon, you find yourself pacing restlessly around the clearing, trying and failing not to think about Dave, your thoughts a hopeless jumble. You're so preoccupied you don't notice Dave has come to see you until you nearly walk into him.

"Sorry!" you say, spluttering apologetically and trying to sidestep him, "Wasn't looking where I was going!"

"Hey," he says, gently taking hold of your elbows and making you stop, "You've been walking around for five minutes already. What's wrong?"

"Nothing! I'm fine!" you say, not looking at him.

"Are you sure?" he asks, looking sceptical, "You don't look fine."

"I am!"

"Sit down. You need to relax."

He pulls you down onto the ground, and sits next to you. You drum your fingers frantically on the ground, still refusing to look at him.

"Calm down," he says, putting one arm around your shoulder and pulling you into an awkward hug, "It's okay."

"I know," you reply.

You sit like that for about half a minute, the uncomfortable angle making your back ache slightly, and you feel your heart rate begin to slow. What were you panicking about, anyway? There's nothing wrong! Nothing to worry about! You stop try to thinking about it before you start panicking again.

"Tell me what's wrong," says Dave, pushing you away and looking at you.

"Nothing," you reply, lying back and managing to look somewhat relaxed, "I was just... feeling restless."


	4. Haze

The rest of the day passes in a blur. Looking back on it later, you wonder where most of the time went.

You can't remember what happened after Dave calmed you down, but somehow you ended up staying behind at camp with him whilst Jade and Rose went on a walk. You think Rose probably had ulterior motives for this plan.

The day runs together like it's been melted by the heat. Only a few moments really stand out.

Like, for instance, when you're playing tag and Dave chases you up a tree and you're giggling and trying to get away and you nearly fall and your heart stops for a moment and you think you're going to die and then he grabs you. He pulls you back into the tree, looking serious and slightly scary in his shades.

"Hey, careful now," he says, pulling you in close.

"Sorry," you mutter, looking away and feeling like an idiot, "I didn't- I mean, I wasn't- Um, thank you for saving me. I thought... I thought I was going to die."

"From this height?" he says, laughing and looking down, "Nah. Few broken bones, maybe, but you wouldn't die."

"That's a real comfort," you say sarcastically, thinking you should probably get out of his arms but kind of really not wanting to.

You both hang there for a moment, just staring at each other. You begin to think Rose was probably completely right, and wondered whether you should say anything. On the other hand, you realised you'd been acting like a total idiot recently, and that Dave probably wouldn't take kindly to you confessing your feelings of deep attraction to him whilst you were perched in a tree and he'd just saved you from falling to uncertain death.

"Don't do that again," he says, finally breaking the silence and shifting you onto a branch of your own, "You scared me."

He's gone, swinging down to the ground, before you can say anything. You can't helped but feel slightly pleased he was scared. That must mean he likes you a bit, right? Even if only as a friend.

You're not sure how long you sit in the tree, daydreaming about Dave, but you know that later on he calls you down for lunch. You eat the sandwich he made you in silence, just watching him eat and idly daydreaming about what it would be like to be the sandwich he was eating. Probably extremely unromantic, you decided, and maybe slightly terrifying. You begin to wonder whether sandwiches are sentient, and if eating them is actually really cruel.

"Hey, what are you thinking about?" Dave asks, breaking into your thoughts and giving you a strange look.

"Sandwiches," you reply, staring thoughtfully at yours, "I wonder what they feel like when we're eating them."

"Sandwiches don't feel, idiot," he says, and even though you can't see them, you swear he's rolling his eyes.

The rest of the day is spent messing around with Dave. You don't really remember much of what you did, you just remember it being a lot of fun. By the time Jade and Rose return, bearing gifts from McDonald's, you're both just lying on the ground, staring at the sky and thinking. You all eat dinner together, talking and laughing, and you ignore all the meaningful looks Rose gives you.

Later, you lie in your tent, staring at Dave's back. You think he might be asleep.

"Hey," you whisper, half-hoping he doesn't hear you, "I think I love you."

Everything is quiet, and you think you can hear him breathing. You find yourself holding your breath, waiting for a response. Eventually, you roll over and try to go to sleep. You suppose he must have been sleeping, after all.

"I think I love you too," he says, so quietly you can barely hear him, and you're smiling as you fall asleep.


	5. Flame

You wake up to see a giant pair of shades hovering in front of your face. Feeling tired and more than a little confused, you grab your glasses and manage not to poke yourself in the eye as you put them on. Dave's face comes into focus, and you can see he's smiling slightly beneath the shades.

"Why are you already wearing those sunglasses?" you ask, closing your eyes and wondering how early it is.

"You're wearing your glasses," he points out, leaning in closer and touching your nose with his.

"I need them to see," you say, opening your eyes and staring into the inscrutable black lenses above you, "If anything, those are making your vision worse."

"They make me look cool."  
"They make you look like a jerk."

"Same difference."

You laugh and wonder when he's going to mention the severe invasion of personal space going on, which is starting to get slightly awkward. The silence stretches on to an uncomfortable length, and you find yourself wishing you could see his eyes. You can just about make them out through the shades, but not well enough to see any expression in them.

"You said you love me," he says, quietly breaking into your thoughts.

You panic as you try to remember what happened, then smile as you succeed.

"You said you love me, too," you reply, lifting your arms up and wrapping them around his waist.

"So I did."

You wonder whether now would be a good time to kiss him. You think it probably would be, if you could work up the courage to do it, but that's proving far easier said than done. You think maybe he's waiting for you to kiss him, and you feel like an idiot, because you can't and this is stupid and why did you say you love him anyway? You only met him a few days ago, you can't be in _love_ with him already. He interrupts your panicked thoughts by leaning in and kissing you, soft and gentle, and you smile into his mouth, already wondering what you were panicking about anyway. You try to kiss him back, although you really aren't sure how this kissing thing works yet. Somehow, your tongue ends up in his mouth, and he pulls away laughing, making you blush.

"Get dressed," he says, kissing your forehead and getting up.

He goes outside and you find yourself just staring at the tent door for a moment, before you realise what you're doing and shake yourself out of your stupor.

You spend most of the day hanging out with Jade, occasionally exchanging private smiles with Dave, and you're fairly sure Rose has worked out exactly what happened. Part of you wishes you could just spend the day with Dave, but you like Jade, and you really haven't spent enough time with her. You go on a walk through the woods, and Jade tells you about her life on the island. You listen in awe, amazed by her everyday life. You tell her you wish you could visit her there. She says that next summer, you should all go on holiday there. You think that would probably be the coolest thing, ever.

That evening, you eat around a campfire. You think this really feels like a camping holiday now. When you say this out loud, Dave calls you a dork and kisses the end of your nose, and you blush. Jade and Rose exchange knowing glances, and you groan internally as you realise Rose has been discussing your love life with Jade. Dave sees you staring at them, and whispers in your ear, telling you to ignore them. You say you wish they'd stop staring at you. Dave laughs. He pulls you close, and you cuddle, staring at the fire. You wish you had marshmallows; that's all you'd need to make this a perfect evening.

Later on, Jade and Rose have gone to sleep, and the fire is starting to go out. You think you should probably go to bed soon, but you're too comfortable to move. You wonder whether Dave would mind sleeping out here. You stare at the fire, and a solitary flame pokes out. You think it looks lonely, and then it's gone. The fire has died down to glowing embers, and it's starting to get cold.

"Hey," you say, looking up at Dave, who still has you wrapped in his arms, "I think we should go to bed."

He doesn't reply.

"Dave," you say, "Bed time."

Still no reply. Twisting around, you pull yourself out of his arms and look at his face. Gingerly, you lift his shades, and see his eyes are closed.

"Hey, wake up, sleepyhead," you say, giggling and shaking his arm.

"What? Huh?" he says, looking befuddled, "Hey, I wasn't asleep."

"Sure you weren't."

"Yeah. Hey, we should probably go to bed."

"All right," you say, and you think your face might break, you're smiling so much.


End file.
